You Can't Survive on Salt Water

^{—seven haiku for old orleans—}

1.
dead dogs hang from trees
bloated barges sit on the
wrong side of levees

2.
dumb pigeons have flown
now it's people's turn to perch
roasting atop roofs

3.
a caravan of
yellow buses drowns because
the mayor can't drive

4.
official death counts
exclude so-called looters shot
on sight of their skin

5.
dry folk uptown hold
their noses, rejecting wet
people's funky stank

6.
things that go bump in
the night: your boat against a
dead baby's body

7.
a son returns, finds
four-month-old bones wearing his
missing mother's dress